Well, Chance has made us more disciplined about being outside and staying active. Our strategy of exhausting him seems to be working. However, it is also exhausting us too. For the first few days after bringing him home, we both demanded that we join every outside adventure-town walk, doggie play date next door, woods hike, fetch at the pond....but now we are starting to take turns. At night, I often just find myself watching the Chance sleep. He likes to curl up next to me on couch while I work on my computer. I'll be typing and all of sudden there will be a little nose sticking through the hole between my leg and arm. Give him too much attention and he will creep forward until he is almost in your lap or casually roll over in his sleep for a belly rub. When he is home alone, I am a nervous wreck. I rush back to see him before parking. The first time we left him, I walked in and he was stoically standing ON TOP of the kitchen island. Surprisingly, the only evidence we could find of wrong doing was a red onion that he had mistaken for a ball. He hid it completely in tact in the corner. Now when we leave, I play classical music through the speakers. And he has done great.
Stacia has lots of confidence in Chance. She is always reassuring me that 'Yes, he will be fine off the leash.', 'No, he will not run away from us', 'Yes, he is playing with that other dog just fine', 'No, he will not bark incessantly when we leave him', 'No, he won't have digestive issues if we give him goats milk', and on and on. Yes, we definitely have different perspectives and roles. Stacia is great at trusting him in new situations and encouraging them to occur. While I tend to double check everything on the internet, watch youtube videos, and be a little more protective, not wanting to rush any interaction that might make him anxious. I like to think it is a good balance, but Stacia might have a different opinion.
Okay, okay. Enough of the dog rant. I'm sure not everybody wants these details about our new addition, but it's our reality right now. Back to the daily journal to finish catching up.
February 6th, 2014
Stacia went on a beautiful hike with Chance while I worked in the morning. Naturally, I was jealous. However, it felt good to get back to schoolwork after our trip south and a full day of goats the day before. We had some lunch together before Stacia went with Sarah to sell some cheese and visit a Pygmy goat farm (where she had the opportunity to hold a newborn kid!!!)
. Chance and I went to Norway Pond to play fetch and run about. There was a tractor on the ice clearing an ice skating rink and skate track for the Winter Frolic this weekend. Can't wait to see the town in festival mode! Chance also met a new friend-a beagle named Smitty. They happily played king of the mountain while I chatted up his owner. My old friend, KJO, was right when she said having a dog is an excellent way to meet new people when you move. It is expecially helpful that Chance is adorable.
At night, we were both anxiously waiting for Stacia to get home. We had no idea it was going to be such a long day for her. Eventually, there was an emergency call saying that nobody was scheduled for the evening goat shift. So, I did what any wannabe volunteer firefighter does-I jumped into my Carharts, moved all the food off the kitchen island, put the classical music on for Chance, and took off to tend the goats. When I got back, Stacia was home too. Chance was happy the clan was back together and passed out on the couch while we had a delicious beef stew.
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| There is no stick (or log) too big for Chance. |
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| Visit to a Pygmy Goat Farm where Stacia gets to hold a newborn kid. |
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| Snow face. |
February 5th, 2014
SNOW DAY! Lots-o-snow. We all woke up excited to get our noses in the white fluff so we headed to the pond for a quick morning outing. Stacia mixed some cheese while I did school. THEN, we went cross country skiing with Chance for the first time. Again, Stacia had to twist my arm to make this happen because I was worried that our limited mobility would be difficult if Chance needed extra guidance. In the end, we both carried all our equipment to the pond to see how it would work. However, we forgot Chance's ball. Bad move. As we moved our skiis back and forth to navigate through the untouched snow, Chance would pounce on our ski tips poking through the top layer of snow. Finally, I took my skis off and trudged through the snow on foot. Stacia of course was persistent and simply disciplined Chance not to attack the skis. I was worried that too much negative discipline would make him crabby for his party with the family next door later that night. So, I ran around on the pond while he tried desperately to herd Stacia and I by running back and forth.
In the evening, we had the family next door come over for drinks, appetizers, a card game, and puppy meeting. Chance is still nervous around men, but seems to be getting better with repeated interactions. We let the dad feed him his food and give him treats. Of course, he loved Sarah. He laid down right next her and put his head on her lap. All and all, it went very well. During the game, Chance sat behind me at a safe distance for the activity, but he also wanted to be with the group. Hopefully, we all continue to be sweet with each other. Valentine's Day is approaching and with it the decision on whether we can keep our lovely dog. I don't think we are going to be able to part with him.
There we are. All caught up on the daily blog. Today promises to be a good one. After sleeping in, Stacia appeared wearing her new Valentine's Day dress and showing it off with a display of ballerina dance moves slightly on cue with the relaxing music playing in the background. Fancy dress is made a house dress through bread making....I love living with this lovely woman.
We are going to walk the goats later and muck the other pen. I'm thinking about wearing a collared shirt and tie...
We make our own occasions around here.
Best,
Kenzie
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| Ball lover. |
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| Evening snuggles. |
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